Ideal growing conditions are expected to give the crop a boost this year, while higher prices have helped increase acres
The most popular variety of mustard seed in Canada is seeing a recent downturn in price.
While the prices of mustard in Western Canada are still much higher than last year, they have been steady to lower over the past month.
According to Prairie Ag Hotwire, the high-delivered bid for yellow mustard is at $1.50 per pound, a decline of 41 cents from one month ago but a dollar higher than last year. The high-delivered bid for brown mustard has been steady at $2.01 per lb. from a month ago, but $1.58 higher than at this point in 2021. Oriental mustard lost one cent in June but gained 64 cents from the year before at $1 per lb.
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Lionel Ector, president of Diefenbaker Spice & Pulse near Elbow, Sask., said mustard growers should be pleased with this year’s crop.
“Mustard is a semi-arid type plant and that’s the weather conditions we’re getting currently,” Ector said.
Statistics Canada’s March 2022 principal field crops report said Saskatchewan was projected to seed 345,500 acres of mustard in 2022, the most since 2018 and nearly 50 percent more than in 2021. The province is the world’s largest producer of the yellow mustard variety.
Ector attributes the increase in acres to mustard’s high-rising prices from last year but warns they won’t be continuous.
“The supply chain doesn’t fill up overnight. There might be early pressure at harvest as farmers need cash flow, but Canada is the number one exporter in the world and I think prices should be strong all year. How strong? I don’t know,” he said.
Processors may also have enough mustard seed on hand, which would lower prices.
“I think a lot of manufacturers or end users might have secured enough where they’re able to ration enough of their supply to meet their customers’ needs,” Ector said, adding that processing plants like old crop better because of greater consistency in the manufacturing process.
Ector said decent precipitation is the reason many crops are in good shape but he fears a repeat of last year’s weather conditions.
“As soon as we get into more of our typical summer weather, things could go backwards quite quick,” he said.
